Endangered Kittiwake Birds Try to Reach their Nests and Fail

The kittiwakes are generally oceanic in nature, mostly adapted to spending their entire lives on the open northern oceans and only touching land during the nesting season. Unfortunately, a net strung up in the building where they nest have blocked access to their home.

Kittiwakes are part of the gull population who have spent the entire winter in the North Atlantic Ocean hunting for small fishes such as sandeels, rather than scavenge from discarded waste and food. When they begin to experience scarcity of food on brutal winters, they return to land during spring to nest and raise their young. Typically, they nest on vertical rocky sea-cliffs, but will occasionally nest on buildings and shipwrecks.

A footage that has gone viral on social media of birds trying and failing to reach their nesting sites in a building in Lowestoft, Suffolk has garnered negative responses from the community, using the hashtag #NestsNotNets to spread awareness. The RSPB described the situation as 'heartbreaking'. The organization has called out the building owners and tenants like Papa John's pizza outlet and a BT building to "do the right thing and remove the netting so these gentle birds have space to raise their young."

Conservation Status

The black-legged kittiwakes have already been identified as a conservation priority in the Red listed in Birds of Conservation Concern 4 (2015 update). The UK being one of the popular nesting sites of their kind, made them one of UK's most important birdlife. As their number has decreased by 40 percent globally since the 1970s, their nesting site in Lowestoft have provided them home that just might increase their survival rate in both local and national scale. RSPB's Martin Fowlie told The Independent that the Lowestoft is a home to one of only two kittiwake colonies in Suffolk, and it is heartbreaking to see it covered with net, preventing the rare birds to nest.

Springwatch presenter and naturalist Chris Packham also expressed how the owner and tenants in the building should be delighted to have the birds nest there.

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Reaching a Solution

The RSPB England was glad to offer advice on how the removal can be done safely, however, the BT spokesperson told The Independent they needed to prevent birds from nesting on the building as they need to gain access to the roof space for maintenance. However, they are currently reviewing the use of netting and looking into alternative solutions that will work both for the kittiwakes and people.

On the other hand, the Papa John's spokesperson wrote an email to The Independent saying they are keen to take the nets down. They were initially adhering to food hygiene standards to ensure the health and safety of customers and staff members.

As of this time, there are no reports of the nets being removed yet. While both tenants Papa John's pizza outlet and BT UK confirmed that they have adhered to the council regarding the installation of the nets beforehand and were of no intention of harming the birds, they agreed to working alongside with RSPB to reach alternative solutions.

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